TORONTO — A new study finds that some 80 per cent of Canadian baby boomers plan to stay put in their homes in the next five years as a majority consider their local housing market unaffordable for retirement.

The Leger and Royal LePage survey of 1,000 Canadians aged 54 to 72 suggests that six-in-ten boomers are opting to renovate their current house rather than buy a new home.

That leaves some 17 per cent or 1.4 million boomers planning to buy and sell homes in the next five years.

It finds about half of boomers plan to downsize, but there is no trend toward a single type of home they plan to buy.

About 56 per cent of the boomers surveyed online in mid-July said they consider the neighbourhoods they currently live in unaffordable, but that number jumps to 63 and 78 per cent in Ontario and British Columbia respectively.

The study also says many boomers expect to have children in their twenties and thirties living with them and that 47 per cent of boomers expect to help their child with the purchase of a home.

If asked for assistance by their child, 41 per cent of boomers said they would give less than 25 per cent of the home’s total value, while five per cent would give 25 per cent of the home purchase price or higher.